Literary Criticism essays

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1 Page 495 Words
When Pi was thrown into the Pacific Ocean on the lifeboat with only a limited stock of food and other resources after the ship capsized, he had to make a plan to survive the uncertain and indeterminate period in the harsh seas; “when your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for...
Critical ThinkingLife of PiLiterary Criticism
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4 Pages 1807 Words
“She had crossed to the other side. She was part of the land. She was wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues” (O’Brien 110). The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a published 1990 novel that deals with the stories and hardships of a group of American soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War....
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2 Pages 731 Words
In ‘The Things They Carried’, Tim O’Brien underlines the devastating effects of war and the lasting damage of death that a soldier may witness or experience. O’Brien employs a fragmentary and metafictional form of storytelling to highlight the theme of death and morality and explore the different perceptions of the actions of the war. O’Brien informs us that war isn’t...
3 Pages 1538 Words
Authors all across the world have published countless novels about war and love. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is one of the many war novels that involves love, but unlike the others, love in The Things They Carried is not the average perfect utopian dream. His short stories, “The Things They Carried” and “The Lives of the Dead”, illustrate...
Literary CriticismLoveThe Things They Carried
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3 Pages 1585 Words
It is no surprise that the Vietnam War, being the first war to be broadcasted, left a significant impact on all of society, enlisted or not, for generations to come. The Vietnam War, fought from 1964 until 1973 is a hot-button topic due to the murky reasonings behind our involvement, the anti-war movement surfacing in the United States, countless horrific...
2 Pages 879 Words
After being served a decadent plate of smoked turkey, drizzled in gravy, with a side of creamy mashed potatoes, one turns its head to contribute to the family conversation. When turning back to grab another bite, the dog had already gained possession of the plate and began chowing down! The dog gobbles down all the food and without stopping, strolls...
Literary CriticismRevengeThe Cask of Amontillado
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3 Pages 1483 Words
The idea of morality during times of war is far from a black-or-white concept. It is more of a muddied, gray area in the middle. There isn’t a definitive right or wrong when it comes to war, as it depends on who’s view you choose to see it from. Author, Tim O’Brien recounts his experiences during the Vietnam War in...
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1 Page 612 Words
Andy Lee’s “Life of Pi”, is a miraculous achievement of storytelling and animated magic realism. Inspired by Yann Martel’s 2001 novel, it is a visual masterpiece that encapsulates the human ability to overcome hardship through faith and resilience. Audiences feel like active participants in the plot through powerful cinematic techniques and rich motifs. Life of Pi is a story about...
Critical ReflectionLife of PiLiterary Criticism
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2 Pages 1032 Words
Hi, I’m the editor of The New Yorker magazine and I’ve seen quite a lot of people confused about The Lottery or described it as “perverted” and “gratuitously disagreeable”, so I’m making this video of me analyzing the story to give everyone a new perspective when looking at The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. The setting of the story is set...
Literary CriticismPerspectiveThe Lottery
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2 Pages 801 Words
'Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.' -Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau, an American naturalist and renowned poet, said that, when we truly realize what we want, find it, and consciously live it, we find our truest life and are awake in our dreams. In the book Santiago also found his truest life. The dream played...
CharacterLiterary CriticismThe Alchemist
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2 Pages 1006 Words
The book, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, is a romantic novel of 1813 in which, Austen charts the emotional development of the heroine- Elizabeth Bennet. The book provides insight into the disastrous effects of having excessive pride and prejudice and distinguishes between being indispensable and secondary. This book contains several important characters, but some characters have the role of...
CharacterLiterary CriticismPride and Prejudice
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2 Pages 1077 Words
Introduction William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is often celebrated as one of the greatest tragedies in English literature, with its themes of love, fate, and conflict. However, one of the less frequently explored dimensions of this play is the element of revenge and its role in driving the narrative towards its tragic conclusion. Revenge in "Romeo and Juliet" is not...
Literary CriticismRevengeRomeo and Juliet
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2 Pages 1108 Words
The idea of restriction is prevalent through the treatment of female characters in both “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman to demonstrate the harsh realities that women faced in the critical Victorian period. Judy Simons suggests that wives in Victorian England were “literally the property of their husbands” and argues that the deeply...
FreedomLiterary CriticismThe Yellow Wallpaper
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2 Pages 835 Words
I have chosen to deal with the Salem witches, a myth that inspired Arthur Miller who wrote The Crucible in 1952. Firstly, in 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, the Reverend’s daughter, Betty, fell sick and the only explanation given by the physician was that she was under the influence of the devil, and this led to a Puritan inquisition. Right from...
Literary CriticismThe Crucible
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2 Pages 942 Words
Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible and Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go both yield the power to challenge assumptions about the insignificance of the human individual when pitted against the collective. Executed through the characterization of their respective protagonists, Miller and Ishiguro offer similar insights into the ramifications of individual passivity, which creates opportunities for oppressive societies to endure....
Literary CriticismThe Crucible
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2 Pages 1006 Words
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, depicts the human struggle against vengeance and the wrath of another human being. It explores many relevant topics such as hysteria, morality, and reputation, many of which relate back to Miller's experience with McCarthyism during the 1950s. The play unfolds in the town of Salem during the 1690s, where an outbreak of rumors claiming witchcraft...
Literary CriticismThe Crucible
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2 Pages 1100 Words
Individual human experiences are fundamentally modulated by the values and morals of the collective, prompting personal reflection of the paradoxes within human nature and our understanding of acceptance. Miller’s The Crucible (1953) demands that we recognize the necessity of allowing individuals to establish their personal beliefs and values without having others inflicted on them. The tragedy encourages its audience to...
Literary CriticismThe Crucible
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5 Pages 2322 Words
“These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long...mules and other brutes had occupied their skins”: An analysis of Hurston's message of men dehumanizing women within Their Eyes Were Watching God In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston through the protagonist, Janie, discusses the challenges that women have to face living in both a...
Literary CriticismTheir Eyes Were Watching God
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1 Page 566 Words
George Orwell’s prophetic nightmare “1984” warns the modern era about technology and society through his vision of a truly dystopian world. Despite Orwell writing the novel in 1949, his predictions are becoming increasingly true, whether that be how society will think and act, how technology will always be around us and ultimately watching us, and how we will live in...
1984Critical ThinkingLiterary Criticism
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2 Pages 798 Words
Introduction George Orwell's seminal work, 1984, offers a chilling portrayal of a dystopian society subjected to totalitarian control. Written in 1949, the novel continues to resonate with contemporary audiences, serving as a cautionary tale about the dangers of oppressive governance and the erosion of personal freedoms. The central themes of surveillance, reality manipulation, and language control remain pertinent in today's...
1984CorruptionLiterary Criticism
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3 Pages 1335 Words
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is regarded as an important work of American Feminist literature as it explores the attitudes towards women’s mental and physical health in the 19th century. The short story is fictional yet can be considered semi-autobiographical as it was written after Gilman experienced severe post-partum depression. In this passage, Gilman touches on ideas about...
FeminismLiterary CriticismThe Yellow Wallpaper
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5 Pages 2114 Words
Toni Morrison is one of the most recognized and honored authors in the world. In addition to her timeless essays and stories such as “Recitatif” and “Tar Baby,” her classic novels have earned her numerous reputable awards including the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Pulitzer Prize (“Nobel Prize in Literature 1993”). Needless to say, Morrison’s work has ignited and...
Literary CriticismSong of Solomon
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3 Pages 1308 Words
In 'The Yellow Wallpaper,' written by prestigious feminist author Charlotte Perkins Gilman, after the birth of her baby, our nameless narrator suffers from postpartum depression and is forced by her dominant doctor's husband, John, to weeks of bed rest. While in the confines of bed, the narrator starts a rapid descent into madness and becomes convinced that women are stalling...
3 Pages 1329 Words
Individuals’ attitudes toward illnesses are often influenced culturally and socially. With different perspectives, the idea of illnesses has been systematically stigmatized for many decades. However, most stigmas are directed towards the category of mental disorders. Society often associates individuals with mental disorders as psycho or crazy leading to prejudice. While most stigmas of illnesses have been associated specifically with mental...
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7 Pages 3060 Words
This paper is based on the awakening of patriarchal oppression. mechanism and feminism in The Awakening and The Yellow Wallpaper. Through the comparative analysis of the female struggle and awakening in a patriarchal society. Although both books are about men. However, there is still a difference between the confinement of women in the power society and the awakening of women's...
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4 Pages 2068 Words
The underlying feminism in the famous classic ‘Little Women’ by Louisa Alcott is a topic widely discussed since the novel’s publication in 1868, just after the first wave of the feminist movement. The real discussion revolves mainly around the main protagonist ‘Jo’ Josephine March and her character traits that are very clear to critics and readers alike; however, it seems...
FeminismLiterary CriticismNovel
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2 Pages 875 Words
Introduction Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, published in 1892, serves as a compelling critique of the patriarchal structures that governed women's lives during the late nineteenth century. The narrative, written in the form of a personal journal, details the descent into madness of a woman confined by her husband in an effort to cure her supposed hysteria....
FeminismLiterary CriticismThe Yellow Wallpaper
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3 Pages 1443 Words
Monster culture symbolizes what we see in ourselves. In the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents a narrative where the main character represents a “monster” because of her nervous condition. The narrator is an upper-class middle-aged woman battling postpartum depression. Her husband often dismisses her and does not talk to her about her case; isolation from society...
CharacterLiterary CriticismThe Yellow Wallpaper
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3 Pages 1532 Words
Is it corrupt for a government to manipulate its citizens to maintain full control over their country? In the novel 1984, the three-party slogans are contradictory phrases that are manipulated to be true by the party. “ War is Peace”, “ Freedom is Slavery ” and “ Ignorance is Strength” are the slogans Orwell uses as a form of propaganda...
1984George OrwellLiterary Criticism
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3 Pages 1507 Words
The exploration of diverse human experiences can provide valuable insights into the nature of human behavior. Through the portrayal of human experiences, an individual can deepen their understanding of the fundamental characteristics that make us human. Within Arthur Miller’s 1952 tragedy, The Crucible, my attached visual representation, and the 2016 slam poem 'Islamophobia' performed by Elevated!, the audience is provided...
Literary CriticismThe Crucible
like 432
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